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One privacy issue I'm seeing is that it seems like the users device still needs to make a request to get the metadata? So the retailer could use fingerprinting
by dantiberian 11y ago
One privacy issue I'm seeing is that it seems like the users device still needs to make a request to get the metadata? So the retailer could use fingerprinting of requests to track people around. I wasn't entirely clear on where the metadata comes from so I could have this wrong.
- chrisfosterelli 11y ago> information about users won’t be saved until they click a link, so the beacon owner will not know anyone was nearby until they visit the website It sounds like the metadata is sourced from the bluetooth-broadcast, not via a separate request. However, the specification itself[0] only has room for the URL and the telemetry data, so how they achieve this in practice is questionable. [0] https://github.com/google/eddystone/blob/master/protocol-specification.md https://github.com/google/eddystone/blob/master/protocol-spe...
- shittingbull 11y agoAbsolute bullshit....
- dogma1138 11y agoThe beacons them selves have proximity sensing built in, that at least how the "ibeacons" works... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_low_energy#Proximity_sensing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_low_energy#Proximity...
- fyolnish 11y agoProximity detection is done by the receiver. An iBeacon is just a dumb broadcaster.
- steckerbrett 11y agoProbably easier just to sniff their various MAC addresses.
- dantiberian 11y agoiOS devices randomise the MAC when scanning to avoid this.
- mukmuk 11y agoIt actually doesn't in most cases, last I heard: http://blog.airtightnetworks.com/ios8-mac-randomization-analyzed/ http://blog.airtightnetworks.com/ios8-mac-randomization-anal...
- jimiasty 11y agoIt's not the device to fetch metadata. There is an additional service from Google to prevent that - see my comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9940474 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9940474